Monday, April 29, 2013

On 24 April 2013, at approximately 8pm, three unidentified assailants made an attempt on the life of human rights defender Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi. The attack took place at the human rights defender's home in the city of Varanasi, of the Uttar Pradesh province in northern India.

Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi is a founding member of the People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR), which works for marginalised sections of the Indian population. An Ayurvedic physician by profession, he has been working for the rights of bonded and child labourers and other marginalised people in Varanasi and the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh. He was the recipient of theGwangju Human Rights Award in 2007, the Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA) Star Peace Award in 2008, and the 2010 International Human Rights Prize of the city of Weimar.

The human rights defender was at home on the evening of 24 April 2013 when three unknown assailants knocked on his door and called him outside. When he came out, he was fired upon with a pistol. The bullet missed, but as it did, another of the assailants produced a knife and attacked him. All three assailants then fled down the lane outside Lenin Raghuvanshi's home. The human rights defender tried to chase them on his scooter, but there was a JCB construction machine blocking his way at the end of the lane. The driver of the JCB also tried to attack the human rights defender before fleeing himself.

The human rights defender called the police and they arrived within ten minutes from the Paharia police outpost. However, no First Information Report was filed, and no steps were taken to increase Lenin Raghuvanshi's personal security. This is despite the fact that the human rights defender has been the victim of death threats before, and there is a persistent threat to his life as a result of his peaceful and legitimate work in defence of human rights. Front Line Defenders has previously issued an urgent appeal on his behalf on 2 December 2011.

Muslims are therefore denied the right to be
treated equally and the rights to have equal protection before the law.
One of the most gruesome human rights violations the Muslims face from
governmental bodies is the widespread use of torture by the police. The
police torture of Muslims in Uttar Pradesh, therefore, needs to be
highlighted and discussed.

There are two main developments of modern history that have led to
the growing marginalization as well as legislative and social
discrimination of the Muslim community. These historical events are the
partition of India in 1947 and the 9/11 attack in 2001.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Yesterday (27 April, 2013), around 12 mid
night Shruti Nagvanshi, managing trustee of PVCHR along with our activist Mr. Shiv
Pratap Chaubey went to Sarnath police station regarding the abduction of 14
years old girl of Sarai Mohana under jurisdiction of Sarnath in Varanasi of
India. Near the Sarnath crossing Shruti Nagvanashi received threat from Station
House office, Sarnath. He said that it
is his area and he will see her. Being
as women, he also demoralized her by asking silly questions.

As on 15 April, 2013 14 years old Meena
(name changed) she was abducted through marriage by Vikas with the support of
Sheela (a neighbour of Meena). On 18 April, 2013 Meena family informed to the
Sarnath police but no FIR was lodged. After getting no help the family moved
and submitted application to Senior Superintendent of Police and inspector
General of Police and on their direction FIR was lodged on 23 April, 2013. But
S.O did not arrest the perpetrator or any action.

On 25 April, 2013 the hundred of people
protested outside Sarai Mohana police out post under Sarnath police station. On
the protest of local people police arrested Sheela on same day and yesterday
night the girl was rescued and released from Bihar and the perpetrator Vikas in
the custody of Sarnath police, but no statement before magistrate and medico-legal
report.

S.O Sarnath not only misbehaved with Shruti
but also give threat Shiv Pratap Chaubey on his mobile on 27 April, 2013 at
morning.

This is not only case of trafficking in
Saraimohana but 5 years before Saraimohana was centre for the chat pat marriage
but after PVCHR intervention it finished. Now again it started around 15 girls
got chat pat marriage and they never come back to see their family again.

Shruti and Shiv Pratap Pandey are fighting
a case of a 14 years girl of Saraimohana village of Sarnath police station of
Varanasi. Girl recovered from Bihar. After that In charge of police
station-Sarnath openly threaten to Shruti in midnight of nearly on 12 at Sarnath
crossing.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Increasingly, states are seen as responsible for protecting the
rights of women even in connection with offenses committed within homes.
The challenge is to end impunity for the perpetrators as one means of
preventing future abuse.

We are living in such a society today in India
where women are not in a position to oppose any act of violence, and
misbehaviour with her. She might be educated or may be living in a
village the situation is the same. India’s traditional patriarchal
system puts women at the lowest ebb of the community, whatever be the
society but the dalit, minority and poor women are further pushed to the
wall under the caste system and poverty.

Dalit, minority and poor women are subjected to discrepancies on the
basis of the religion, caste, poverty by the patriarchal and caste based
society. Women being subjected to violence, rape and inhuman behaviour
are a matter of shame for any society however progressive the society
might be. But in India such attitude towards the dalit, minority and
poor women is not only common and is at extreme.

Even today the age old myth of a women becoming Dyan (witch) is
followed and women are killed under this belief. The law is unable to
act in such cases and, even does not lodge reports, forget action. If
women raise a voice against such practice not only the women but her
entire family and her advocates have to bear the brunt and is ostracized
by the entire society/village.

Atrocity upon women and children continues without even thinking what
circumstances they face and what mental torture they have to bear or
what kind of security they need. The society instead of helping the
victim of such violence keeps mum and thereby extends a quiet support to
the offenders. Similarly the ones who work for victim women, the human
rights defenders are also attacked so that they may retract their
support. By all means the women are forced to step back if she is
resisting the violence and torture.

Women who manage to reach police station to lodge complaint and not
behaved with properly and they are made to sit for hours together with
the family before anyone listens to them. And later on the women is
pressurized to take back her complaint. There have been many cases of
custodial rape with women and girls child who went to lodge report and
for protection with police. Women are blamed for any act of violence
with them. The worst is those women victims are made to sit with her
offender inside police station, which is another way of psychological
torturing her. Presence of the offender beside gives shocks to mind and
thoughts of that act often give pain to the victim, which is difficult
to even understand.

The women and her family are made to feel down but the offender is not
even once made to realize what offence he has done. Investigation in
cases are started late hence the criminals get enough time to remove
evidences and thereby the case becomes weak. Even the women officers are
no less than their male counterparts and behave the same way with women
victims as the male officers do. The support to women victim depends
upon how much she can pay as bribe to the investigating officer.

Usually justice comes delayed as ‘justice delay is justice denied’ under
the present judicial system. The judiciary itself has less number of
women judges. But the court’s utmost delayed process in cases of
atrocity with women is point to be noted. When justice is delayed often
women victim are forced to make out of the court settlement on the
conditions proposed by the offender itself. Delay in judgement given the
entire benefit to the criminals. In many cases it has been seen that
the lawyer appointed to fight the case for victim join hands with
offender and delays the perusal of the case.

In the courtrooms the attitude of the lawyers towards cases of women
rights is traditional based on patriarchy and they are themselves
unaware about the rules that protect a woman from violence and make the
case complicated.

Not even the national and state women commissions are taking steps that
can help women positively. Women commission itself is governed with
patriarchal mind set. The selection of women commission office bearers
is totally political and only those women who are close to the ruling
party are appointed here, which in unscientific and irrational. These
appointed members lack even the basic of women rights which is reflected
in the decisions they take. Of the cases brought before the women
commission very less are taken up by the commission.

As far as social security and development is concerned dalit, tribal and
minority women have little access and are subjected to dual atrocity
thereby. Those bodies that are responsible for women’s’ health services
are engaged in money making from these women only and ignore their
needs. At times women have lost their lives due to such an attitude.

So, in India, an ideal woman is supposed to be silent that nourishes the
system of patriarchy; men in the society take decisions and women
silently follow them. Society asks its women to be silent and obedient,
following all its norms and keeping up the same values as before.[i]

The global development projects initially made women invisible; being
heavily male biased, women’s productive role, often not directly linked
to the market or the formal economy, was ignored. Instead, their role as
reproductive individuals was made ultra-visible. Programmes to control
population growth, seen as a primary cause of poverty, began to spring
up, with women as targets. The socio-economic status of women declined
following their exclusion from agricultural development schemes.
Development not only ignored women but also had extremely detrimental
effects on women’s economic position. Women’s productivity began to
exist only in relation to its market value and how it could better be
exploited.

Indian women have been endowed with several responsibilities concerned
with the household and family circle. Nonetheless, now with the drift in
development and political policies, the onus of decision-making is also
laid on women. To provide enhanced representation to rural women in a
political world, specific provisions were incorporated in the
Constitution of India through the 73rd Amendment Act in 1992. A
significant provision of this Act is the reservation of one-third seats
for women in all positions in the local self-governance. The 73rd
amendment[ii] was a landmark for women’s empowerment.

Through this amendment, participation of women from all caste was
encouraged at the village level. Education is an imperative factor for
the empowerment of human beings. But education is given little or no
importance in rural villages. The situation of women is even worse as
least interest is shown towards their education. After all, education
develops insight and helps the representative carry out the day to-day
activities and making political decisions. Lack of or low literacy level
hinders women’s active participation in panchayat (Local
self-governance) activities.

It also makes women more dependent on men for paper work. In fact, most
women sarpanchs (village heads) are not allowed to work freely. They are
either forced to sign on papers prepared by influential lobbies or
become part of their husbands’ politics.

They are victims of politics by influential persons or the ploys of
panchayat secretaries, corrupt administration system and the tactics of
powerful locals in the villages. They are removed from office through
forced no-confidence motions. They have been threatened and humiliated.
At the village level, officials, whether junior or senior, are often
found to be anti-women even though it has been proven that these women
sarpanchs can make a difference if they are allowed to perform.

Lack of preparation on the part of rural women for political affairs is
also a factor for their low enthusiasm. The rural population, especially
women, is less equipped with the information on the rural governance
system. Lack of awareness about the systems and procedures regarding
functioning of governance are main cause for subdued leadership in
panchayats. Information helps elected representatives understand their
roles and responsibilities with regard to Panchayati Raj (local
self-governance). Women elected representatives who are more active and
aware perform brilliantly in their political offices whereas women who
are less aware do not perform that well and end up becoming dummy
elected candidates.

Increasingly, however, states are seen as responsible for protecting the
rights of women even in connection with offences committed within home.
The challenge is to end impunity for the perpetrators as one means of
preventing future abuse.

(Material for this article was taken from my book 'Justice Liberty
and Equality: Dalits in Independent India' and an article in Competition
Master)

Friday, April 26, 2013

First Information Report (FIR ) lodged in the case of Dr. Lenin case no. 359/13 under section 307, 452, 343 and 325 of Indian Penal Code:

On April 24, 2013 at around 8 pm three
unidentified assailants knocked at the house of Dr Lenin(http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/LeninRaghuvanshi)
General Secretary of PVCHR(www.pvchr.asia)
and called Dr Lenin outside the house(SA 4/2 A, Daualtpur, Police station:
Cantt,Varanasi-221002,India) and then suddenly fired upon him with pistol with
the intention to kill Dr Lenin.

Dr Lenin fortunately bent down
and the bullet missed him but then suddenly the other assailant took out a
knife and attacked Dr Lenin on his foot. After this all three assailants ran
away taking advantage of the darkness in the lane outside Dr Lenin’s house. Dr
Lenin tried to resist the assailants, also tried to catch them and even chased
them on his newly purchases scooty but at the end of the lane at the main road
construction was going on there was a JCB parked in the middle of the road. The
driver of the JCB(http://www.jcb.co.uk/) came down attacked Dr
Lenin and then fled. Cops from Paharia police-out-post also came but no FIR was
registered neither any step was taken for security.

Detail of
section:

Section

Case

Type of Punishment

Nature of

Punishment

Bailable/Non Bailable

Court

307

Attempt to Murder

Imprisonment for 10 Years

Cognizable

Non-Bailable

Court of Session

452

House –trespass, having made
preparation for causing hurt ,assault etc.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

On April 24, 2013 at around 8 pm three
unidentified assailants knocked at the house of Dr Lenin(http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/LeninRaghuvanshi) General Secretary of PVCHR(www.pvchr.asia) and called Dr Lenin outside the house(SA 4/2 A, Daualtpur, Police station: Cantt,Varanasi-221002,India) and then suddenly fired upon him with
pistol with the intention to kill Dr Lenin.

Dr Lenin fortunately bent down
and the bullet missed him but then suddenly the other assailant took out a
knife and attacked Dr Lenin on his foot. After this all three assailants ran
away taking advantage of the darkness in the lane outside Dr Lenin’s house. Dr
Lenin tried to resist the assailants, also tried to catch them and even chased
them on his newly purchases scooty but at the end of the lane at the main road
construction was going on there was a JCB parked in the middle of the road. The
driver of the JCB(http://www.jcb.co.uk/) came down attacked Dr Lenin and then fled. Cops from Paharia
police-out-post also came but no FIR was registered neither any step was taken
for security.

Immediately letter through email was sent to Director
General of Police,UP(uppcc@up.nic.in), Senior Superintendent of Police,Varanasi(sspvns@up.nic.in) and National Human Rights
Commission(hrd-nhrc@nic.in).

The Commission took Suo-Motu cognizance on 11.10.2011 in a press report in which it was stated that an arrested woman Soni Sori has been brutally tortured in the custody of Chhattisgarh Police which resulted several severe head injuries. It was also reported that her nephew Lingaram Kodopi, aged 25 years, has also been arrested by the Chhattisgarh police on charges of facilitating protection money for Maoists from Essar Steel. The victim Soni Sori has apprehended threat to her life alleging that the State Police had tried to kill her in an encounter on 11.09.2011. Pursuant to the directions of the Commission a report dated 12.10.2011 from Supdt. of Police, District South Bastar Dantewada was received which revealed that two accused B. K. Lala and Linga Kodopi were trapped by the police team on 09.09.2011 who disclosed that they were handing over an amount Rs. 15 Lakhs to Naxalites Vinod and Raghu through a lady named Soni Sori at Palnar market on behalf of M/s Essar Company. It is further stated that the accused Linga Kodopi disclosed that he along with Soni Sori had acted as middlemen in the payment of money to Naxalites on earlier many occasions. Accordingly, the cash and vehicle involved in the matter were seized case No. 26/2011 u/s 121/124 A, 120 B IPC, 39 (1), 40 UPA Act and 8 (2, 3) Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act was registered at Kua Konda Police Station and the accused were arrested. However, Soni Sori was absconding, but was arrested on 04.10.2011 in Delhi with the help of the Delhi Crime Branch Police. The Commission received 37 other complaints regarding the alleged torture of Soni Sori in police custody, and all the cases have been tagged together. It also received a DO letter dated 10.05.2012 from Shri V. Kishore Chandra Deo, Minister of Tribal Affairs and Panchayati Raj, Government of India forwarding a letter given by Dr. T. N. Seema, Member of Parliament regarding the custodial torture of Ms. Soni Sori, a tribal teacher from Dantewada, Chhattisgarh. The letter enclosed a copy of the judgement of the Supreme Court of India dated 02.05.2011 in Criminal Miscellaneous Petition No. 1104, 4981 and 8976 of Year 2012 in the Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 206 of Year 2011 filed by the victim Soni Sori regarding brutality during her custody. In reference to this matter, the Commission obtained the record of proceedings of the Supreme Court of India in Writ Petition No. 206 of 2011 dated 02.12.2011, Criminal Miscellaneous Petition No. 1104 of 2012 dated 19.01.2012, Writ Petition (CRL.) 206 of 2011 dated 30.04.2012 and Criminal Miscellaneous Petition No. 12555 of 2012 in Writ Petition (CRL.) No. 206 of 2011 dated 21.05.2012 from the website 'courtnic.in/supremecourt/temp/wr 20611p.txt'. The Criminal Miscellaneous Petition No. 12555 of 2012 in Writ Petition (CRL.) No. 206 of 2011 dated 21.05.2012 states that "Mr. Atul Jha, learned counsel for the respondent state submits that the matter has already been sorted out by the parties amicably and the writ petition has become infructuous. Hence, the writ petition stands dismissed as having become infructuous. Accordingly, the Crl. M.P. also stands disposed of." The Commission has considered the material placed on record and observes that the allegations levelled vide Writ Petition (CRL.) No. 206 of 2011 appear to be disposed of vide Order dated 21.05.2012. Before proceeding further in this matter, let a copy of these proceedings be sent to the victim Ms. Soni Sori w/o Shri Anil Bhutani r/o Village Sameli Police Station Kuan Konda, District Dantewada, Chhattisgarh through registered post for her comments, if any, within six weeks. A copy of these proceedings also be sent to Shri V. Kishore Chandra Deo, Minister of Tribal Affairs and Panchayati Raj, Government of India for information.

Action Taken

Additional Information Called for (Dated 6/21/2012 )

Status on 4/23/2013

Response from concerned authority is awaited.

Disclaimer: Neither NHRC nor NIC is responsible for any inadvertent error that may have crept in the Complaint Information being published on NET. The Complaint Information on net is for immediate information to the Complainants/ Victims.